Wildlife Viewing - With Your Child

drawing of family With Your Child

Owl Pellets

Great Horned Owl pellet
and pellet contents

When a barn owl catches and eats its diet of mice, voles, moles and small birds, it swallows the animals whole; bones, hair, claws, teeth, feathers and all. About twice a day, barn owls cough up the indigestible parts in a compact pellet that is 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. Get your hands on a pellet (through sources listed below) along with a pair of tweezers and a magnifying lens. Kids love prying pellets apart and examining the fur, feathers and bones of small animals (don’t worry, the pellets are dried and sanitized before they’re sold).

Barn owls often nest and roost in dark cavities in city and farm buildings, hence their pellets are easily retrieved. But other owl species, as well as hawks, gulls, crows, kingfishers and herons, also regurgitate pellets. By examining them, scientists have learned a lot about owl food habits and the animal populations that they feed on.

Two online sources of pellets are found at www.pelletsinc.com and www.owlpelletkits.com. Many of the kits come with sorting charts that aid in the identification of bones and teeth.